Family Business
by Emry Skye
Summary: Settling into life post Voldemort, Harry and Hermione learn to adjust to a life without prophecies, danger, and dark wizards...or so they think.
1. Chapter 1

"Hermione, I don't…oomf…I don't understand why you're so mad at me," Harry complained as Hermione threw their bags from the car into his un-awaiting arms. She slammed the lid to the boot shut and walked to the back door to get Teddy out of his car seat. When she re-emerged, with Teddy securely on her hip, she glared up at him.

"I told you, I'm not talking about this until we get home after the party," she answered back as she spun on her heel and marched toward the front door of the house. Her hair whipped around the back of her neck and her cloak swept behind her in a fashion that would have made Snape proud.

"Hermione!" Harry called starting to lose control of his anger as he stomped up behind her. "Would you stop for a second? For Merlin's sake, I only accepted a position at work!"

That did it. Hermione spun around so fast, her elbow came in contact with his stomach and knocked the wind out of him. Harry doubled over, dropping the bags in his hands into the snow and tried to regain his breath. When he looked up at Hermione, he was met with her steely glare; only this time, anger was not the only emotion burning in her eyes. Sadness and disbelief were there as well.

"I didn't realize I had to spell everything out for you, _Senior Auror Potter_," she hissed. "But this is one you're going to have to figure out on your own. Until then, I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk to me for the rest of the night."

Hermione turned and rapped her knuckles quickly on the door in front of her. Seconds later, George Weasely was standing there, a Firewhiskey in his hand and a huge smile on his face.

"Happy Christmas!" he exclaimed as he kissed Hermione's cheek and ruffled Teddy's hair.

"Uncle George!" Teddy squealed as he jumped out of Hermione's arms and landed on George.

"Hi Ted," George smiled, barely managing to catch the little boy and not spill his drink. "Have you been a good boy this year?"

With a sheepish grin up at Hermione, Teddy looked back up at George and whispered; "Only cuz Mummy said I wouldn't get any Christmas presents if I wasn't."

George burst into laughter and ushered them in while announcing their arrival to the rest of the family. He shut the door behind Harry, who was sporting a look of clear annoyance on his face, and noticed immediately that something was off between the Potters.

"What did you do?" George asked with a smirk on his face as he helped Harry with the bags, which were now soaking wet from being dropped in the snow.

"I have no bloody idea," he grumbled back removing his coat and scarf. He watched Hermione move into the sitting room where most of the family was, and immediately turn her back to where she knew he was standing.

"All I did was tell her that I accepted a promotion at work last week and that it's set to start at the end of January."

"You're not serious?" George said with disbelief.

"I don't get why that is such a problem," Harry said, frustrated, as he followed George into the house. "It's my career, promotions are a good thing in the working world!"

George stopped and looked at Harry with one of the most serious looks Harry had ever seen from the prankster Weasely.

"Harry, you don't work in a shop, you don't work a desk job. You're an _Auror_. That's one of the most dangerous jobs in the universe. Now, they've given you a promotion to work missions that even other _Aurors_ think are dangerous.

"Did you even think to ask if she was ok with that?"

Harry couldn't believe he was talking to George Weasely. What was worse, he couldn't believe George Weasely had figured out what was bothering Hermione before _he_ did. Damn.

But he was right. As realization dawned on him, Harry felt his heart sink. He looked over at Hermione, who was seated next to Molly and Fleur across from Ginny. As he watched her, he saw her participate in the conversation, but the same lightness and ease she had around these women they both considered family seemed forced. He could see there was something weighing heavily on her mind, and only now was able to understand what that was.

"Believe me Harry," George continued and clapped his shoulder, "You're a braver man than I ever believed, if you thought for one minute you could pull a stunt like that on Hermione."

Without a word, Harry turned into the kitchen and grabbed a drink. He was left alone after Bill helped Teddy and Victoire sneak a sugar cookie from Molly's dessert table. Some Christmas celebration this was turning out to be. He had single handedly ruined Christmas for the most important woman in his life, with an off handed comment that he didn't even think twice about.

"That explains what happened outside," Harry thought as he rubbed his stomach where Hermione had accidentally hit him. He stood at the sink and watched the snow fall gently. He dropped his head, rubbed the bridge of his nose, before heading back to the sitting room.

Ron and his family had arrived, completing the whole Weasely Christmas, and Harry gave him a half smile and a handshake as he came over. Lavender was holding a small bundle of blue blankets in her arms and looked more than a little tired.

"Things getting easier at home?" Harry joked as he watched Lavender hand over the baby to Molly almost with a sigh of relief.

"He's up every four hours," Ron sighed. "By the time I got back from that mission we were on last week, she looked like she hadn't slept the full week we were gone."

"It'll be over soon. He's only three months old, but he'll be sleeping through the night before you know it."

"Yeah well, I think I'm going to request the week after New Years' off too," Ron said looking over at his exhausted wife.

"That's probably wise," Harry said glancing sadly over at his own wife.

"So, not that it's any of my business or anything, but…uhm, did you and Hermione have a fight or something?" Ron said after a moment.

"Yeah," Harry admitted swirling the drink in his hand. "I really mucked things up this time, though."

"Harry," Ron stated with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"Look, I've already figured out what I did and I feel like the biggest git ever, so please do me a favor and don't lay into me too. George has already done that, done a hell of a job I might add, and I don't know that I could stand another talk right now."

"At least tell me what you did then," Ron argued.

Harry looked over at Hermione and never once broke his gaze as he explained about the promotion at work. When he finished, both he and Ron took a long swig of their drinks and stayed silent.

"You know that was about the stupidest thing you could've done," Ron muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Yes, I'm aware," Harry replied irritably. He put his drink down roughly on the nearest table, grabbed his cloak and left the warmth of the living room.

From across the room, Hermione watched Harry talk with Ron and all the different emotions that ran across both of their faces. She was finding it increasingly difficult to sit with everyone else as the events of the afternoon played through her mind. She shook her head before she allowed herself to concentrate on them again and turned her attention back to Lavender and Ginny who were talking about Hugo and his inability to sleep for more than a few hours at a time.

"I don't know how you managed Hermione," Lavender sighed as Molly handed Hugo back to her and she settled him in her arms. "I know you and Harry didn't have Teddy until he was almost two, but Harry was gone so much with training and they were busy with catching the rest of the Death Eaters."

"It was different for us though," Hermione explained. "Harry spent a lot of time over at Andromeda's house just after the war helping her take care of him, and learning how to be a dad. And by the time her illness had progressed so much that she wanted us to take Teddy, I was through healing school and assigned as her personal physician. I was home a lot."

"I can't believe that's been almost three years already," Molly sighed with a deep breath.

They all nodded in agreement before a loud crack broke the relative ease of the room. All eyes were turned to the corner where George, Charlie and Ron were playing with Teddy and Victoire. A small stream of smoke was wafting into the air from Charlie's wand and Teddy and Victoire were squealing in delight.

"What are you doing over there?" Fleur asked as she approached the corner.

"Just playing with the kids," Charlie answered with a smirk.

Hermione glanced around the room and noticed Harry was missing. Excusing herself from the group, she went to the kitchen. She didn't find him there. She searched the upstairs, and still saw no sign of him.

"Ron, have you seen Harry?" she asked him concernedly as she descended the stairs.

"He went for a walk about twenty minutes ago," Ron answered as he dropped Teddy off his shoulders and set him on his feet. "He's pretty beaten up about what happened with the promotion."

Hermione arched an eyebrow and looked toward the door.

"I didn't tell him if that's what you're thinking," Ron asked backing away slightly. "Apparently George helped out a bit, but he knows why you're upset with him."

Hermione took a deep breath and tried to hold back the tears that were trying to well in her eyes. She made up her mind to go out and find him, just as Molly was announcing dinner.

"Hermione, could you help Fleur get the kids settled?" Molly asked over her shoulder as she began setting out the food.

She opened her mouth to decline and go after Harry, when the front door opened and Harry walked heavily through it. His eyes met Hermione's for a second and she stared back at him. Before she could make a move toward him, Harry turned his back to her, shut the door and began unfastening his cloak.

"Right, everyone, take your seats," Molly called out as everyone began to settle in. Hermione followed Harry into the dining room silently, wishing she had said something before they'd joined everyone else.

"Harry, Hermione, you two there, next to Bill," Molly continued gesturing to two empty seats near the center of the table.

Without a word to each other, they made their way over to their seats; Harry pulling out Hermione's chair for her, before taking his seat next to her. Both of them kept their hands in their laps and heads focused on the table unless spoken to, but they never once made eye contact with each other.

Around them, people were talking and having a wonderful time. Ron kept watching his best friends nervously, but knew they just needed some time to talk to each other. Unfortunately, he also knew they weren't going to get the chance for a few more hours at least. He saw the awkward movements between the two as they tried to not disturb the other, and it was painful to watch two people who were so in love with each other try to avoid each other.

He let out a large sigh, and Lavender placed her hand on his knee and squeezed it comfortingly. He smiled at her and kissed her cheek.

"They'll be ok, love," she whispered.

He gave her another weak smile and returned to his dinner.

"There's an interesting buzz around the ministry these days," Arthur said loudly calling everyone's attention to him.

Harry felt his heart stop and looked up to Mr. Weasely hoping he would get the hint to stop. But Mr. Weasely wasn't looking at him.

"It seems that Scippio Forsythe has retired from the Senior Auror position of S.A.S.S. and that Kingsley offered the position to a young Auror who has been exceptional in the field."

"Any ideas who that could be?" he asked the table jokingly.

Everyone except Ron, Harry and Hermione chuckled. Harry resumed staring at the table while Hermione, whose face had gone pale, was fidgeting with the napkin in her lap.

"Mummy?"

Hermione looked next to her at the little boy who had suddenly appeared there.

"Yes, sweetie?" she choked out still trying to control her emotions.

"Can we open presents?"

"Not until tomorrow morning, Santa hasn't come yet," she smiled brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Why don't you and Tori go play? Did you finish your dinner?"

With a small nod, Teddy walked back over to Tori and the two took off into the living room together.

"So Harry, any thoughts?" Charlie smiled as he took a sip of his drink.

"No, none," he responded quietly not looking up at anyone.

That seemed to be the end of the conversation and, as the topic moved onward, both Harry and Hermione released a deep breath.

xxx

The ride to the Granger's house was quiet. Teddy had fallen asleep in his seat as they were flying over Kent and Hermione had not said one word to Harry since she had told Harry not to talk to her. Harry was sure she was crying, though she was looking away from him the whole time. The occasional sniffle and the discreet wipe of her eyes were like a knife to the heart for Harry.

When they arrived at the Granger's, Harry gently extracted Teddy from his seat and walked him upstairs to Hermione's old room. Hermione was already there setting up the small bed that she slept in growing up. Harry laid the little boy down, and helped Hermione change him into his pajamas.

They went downstairs to talk with the Granger's, though neither one of them were in the mood. Hermione talked with her parents minimally, but Harry stayed near the window staring out at the backyard.

"Well, dear, we're happy that you made it tonight," Mrs. Granger smiled at her daughter.

"We are too," she tried to reciprocate the gesture.

"I think we've got a pretty busy morning tomorrow before we all head over to the Burrow for dinner," Mr. Granger commented. "Why don't we all get some sleep?"

Mrs. Granger agreed and Hermione helped her put away the tea tray and biscuits before turning toward the stairs.

"I'm going to set up some security wards around the house," Harry said quietly as he walked toward the front door to grab his cloak.

Hermione turned and looked at him as he opened the door and let himself out without another word. Tears sprang to her eyes again and before she knew what she was doing, she followed him out of the house.

He had his arms raised above his head as he faced the house and she could make out the slightest movements of his lips as he said the enchantments. She took a seat on the front porch steps and waited for him to finish.

"I didn't mean to ruin your Christmas," his deep voice broke through her thoughts as he lowered his arms. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," she choked out with a sad smile. "I shouldn't have ignored you like that, it's not fair."

He shot a locking spell to the front door and they both began to walk to the back of the house, Hermione with her arms crossed in front of her chest and Harry with both arms slightly swinging at his sides. He stopped to place the charms on the side of the house and she stopped right next to him.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Hermione. I screwed up. This is my fault, not yours. I put you in this situation."

He began to walk away again, but before he could, Hermione grabbed his elbow. He turned to look at her and could see just how much he had hurt her. She searched his face for a second before stepping closer and wrapping her arms around his waist.

Harry held her tighter as she buried her face in his shoulder. He felt her shoulders shake as she began to cry in earnest and did his best to comfort her. When she had calmed down a bit, they continued on to the backyard with Harry's free arm looped protectively around Hermione's waist.

"Do you remember when we were in the tent, hunting horcruxes and I used to worry over every little thing?" Hermione started as they moved to the final side of the house.

Harry just nodded and pulled her closer to him as they stopped again.

"That hasn't gone away in the five years since then," she admitted. Harry grabbed her hand and led her into the back door of the house and up the stairs to the guest bedroom. He shut the door quietly after checking in on Teddy, and turned back to Hermione who was sitting on the bed.

"I don't sleep well when you're away on a mission, and I know that you've told me that no news is good news, but every day I go without a letter from you, my mind comes up with the worst possible scenarios."

By this point, Hermione's resolve not to cry had completely crumbled and Harry was kneeling in front of her cupping her face in his hands.

"When you told me you got this promotion, I felt that anxiety double," she sniffled. "But at the same time, I know that you are the perfect person for this job and I feel selfish for wanting you to decline the position."

Harry interrupted her next statement with a sound kiss to the lips. Hermione fisted his cloak in her hands as sobs overtook her body and she collapsed against him when they broke apart. Harry rubbed her back soothingly and kissed her temple as he sank to the floor with her in his lap.

"Hermione, why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" he whispered against her hair as he held her.

"Because I know that you love your job and I didn't want you to give it up just because I am an overly paranoid wife."

Harry chuckled and Hermione felt it rumble through his chest. She snuggled closer to him.

"I want you to listen to me, Hermione. No answering, just listen," he started. Hermione nodded her head against him.

"As much as I love my job, you and Teddy are my first priority. I can always find a different position in the Aurors or go teach at Hogwarts; Merlin knows McGonagall sends enough letters asking if I want a teaching post."

Hermione's face broke into a small smile and she looked up at him.

"If I had known about any of this before I was offered the Senior Auror position, I never would have even considered it, let alone accepted it. It doesn't excuse the fact that I didn't talk to you about it first either. I should have done that regardless."

He squeezed her tighter to him and caught a glimpse of his watch. Teddy was going to be up in a few hours.

"I'm sorry, love," he said again.

Hermione kissed him tenderly as she cupped his face with one hand.

They got up and changed into their pajamas before climbing into bed.

Harry snuggled up behind his wife wrapping an arm around her waist as she clutched it between her arms against her chest. He gently kissed the back of her neck and nuzzled his face into her as he made himself comfortable.

A/N: I know it's been a while since I've published anything, but I think I've finally got some inspiration. We'll see where this goes, i do have a pretty good idea though. Let me know what you think and, as always, happy reading.

Cheers,

Em


	2. Chapter 2

Hello all!

So sorry for the delay in update! There is no excuse for my lack of attention, but at last here it is. As always, feedback is appreciated and happy reading.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the original characters.**

Harry staggered into the dark front hallway, holding a chattering Teddy, and groped around for the light switch along the wall. Hermione followed close behind with a bag full of recently acquired Christmas presents.

"Teddy, why don't you run up stairs and start the bath water?" she suggested with a yawn as she peeled off her winter cloak.

"Can we read a story from one of my new books?" he asked eagerly as Harry set him down.

"Yes, I think we can do that," she smiled at him. "Now, hurry up, it's already way passed your bedtime."

Teddy rushed up the stairs and out of sight as Harry watched him with a small smile.

"Were we really only gone for one night?" Hermione groaned as she slipped out of her heels and sagged against the wall.

Christmas morning at the Grangers was always the calm before the storm of Christmas day. Just like every year since Hermione could remember, her parents were already downstairs waiting for them. Before he could see what Santa had brought, both Mr. and Mrs. Granger would make Teddy sit on the stairs before heading into the living room where his presents were waiting. They would "oh" and "ah" over the presents he couldn't see, making the four year old squirm with anticipation and snap a few pictures of him.

By mid morning, everyone was fed, showered, dressed, packed up and ready to head to the Weasley's to be fed some more. Upon arrival, hugs and kisses flew through the room and chores were divided for last minute Christmas preparations.

Harry took Teddy onto his shoulders and made a beeline for the backyard where Bill, with Victoire on his broom in front of him, George, Ron, Neville and Ginny were playing Quidditch. Mr. Granger and Mr. Weasley settled in the sitting room by the fire for a chat, each interested to learn more about the way the other's world functioned. Hermione turned into the kitchen with her mother to catch up with Lavender and baby Hugo, Luna, Fleur and Mrs. Weasley, as the latter witch bustled around the stove refusing any help offered.

"It's not very often I get to cook for a houseful of people anymore, dear," she explained. "As much work as it was, I do miss it."

Ron was always given the task of dividing up the presents, as he was usually the first one under the tree after the midday meal. The pile of presents was so big that the Weasleys had taken to placing the tree against the longest wall in the room so that when the gifts were stacked, they didn't take up the whole room.

Once the presents were sorted, everyone tucked in. There were too many people to watch every single person individually. Ginny had laughed that if they tried that, gift opening would last an entire week. So it was with little patience, and lots of eagerness that wrapping paper, ribbons, anything and everything related with unwrapping presents flew through the air as each new gift was opened and admired.

Teddy, who sat in Harry's lap opening his presents, looked up at Hermione.

"Look! Look!"

"What is it?" Hermione smiled.

"It's a book with lots of stories in it!"

"Really?" she asked playing along with his enthusiasm.

"Yeah! Thanks Uncle George!"

Hermione almost choked on the sip of hot cocoa she had just taken. She recovered and looked up at George who had a self satisfied smirk on his face.

"What, no pranks?" Hermione looked up at him with a raised eye brow.

"You didn't read the title did you?" he replied.

Hermione picked up the book and examined the cover. She rolled her eyes and gave him a half-hearted disapproving look.

"What does it say 'Ermione?" Fleur asked with a knowing smile.

"It says _100 Prime Pranks for the New Prankster: Every Prank Guaranteed to Produce Pandemonium._"

Everyone in the room began to chuckle and even Hermione couldn't keep a smile off her face.

"Needless to say, I will _not_ be reading this to him," she glared at George.

"That's fine, I'll read it to him," Ron volunteered with a chuckle. The room grew silent for a moment as everyone stopped and stared at Ron.

"Oy! Contrary to popular belief I can read!"

The room had burst into laughter again and Lavender gave him a loving pat on the knee.

"I think I'm going to have to hide this," Hermione sighed as she pulled the book George had gifted to Teddy out of her bag. "Hopefully by the time he learns to read on his own, he'll have forgotten about it."

"Fat chance," Harry chuckled. "His Uncle George gave it to him; he'll probably want to sleep with it tonight."

"Ugh, you're right. And I suppose you have no objections to teaching him the pranks that are in that book?" She arched an eyebrow at him daring him to deny it.

"And what if I don't?" he replied in the same challenging tone.

"Well then there's nothing left for me to do but teach him how to not get caught," she replied in fake resignation with a small pat on his cheek that was a little stronger than a love pat.

Harry chuckled and grabbed her arm as she turned to head up the stairs.

"Regular or peppermint?" he asked with a small peck to her lips.

"Mmm, regular I think. It shouldn't take long to put him down after his bath, the sugar high he's been on for an hour should be ready to crash about now."

"Think he'll make it through the story?"

"No. In all honesty, I don't think _I'll_ make it through the story."

"You have an appointment to keep so you better make it through," Harry chuckled again.

With a cheeky wink, Hermione hurried up the stairs to help Teddy finish getting ready for bed. Harry set to his task of boiling milk to prepare the traditional cup of hot chocolate he and Hermione shared every Christmas night.

After their first Christmas together as a couple, Harry and Hermione had fallen into a tradition totally and completely their own. No matter what plans they had for that day, they spent the night together sipping hot chocolate and exchanging their gifts to each other.

Harry quickly finished making the hot chocolate, prepared two mugs and placed them on the hall table next to the stairs. He could hear Hermione's soft laughter as she helped Teddy get ready for bed in the room just down the hall from the stairs. He made a final sweep of the house to make sure everything was locked and secure, grabbed the two remaining boxes from under the tree, the hot chocolates and made his way to his room.

Hermione was already there, changed into her pajamas and turning down the bed. Harry couldn't resist. He set down his load, wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her.

"Happy Christmas," he murmured against her lips.

She stepped up to him and kissed him again, then just smiled widely in response as her eyes fluttered open. Harry smiled back before. Hermione settled herself on the bed and Harry stretched out across the foot of the bed, facing her so he could watch her open his present.

"Now, I believe there is one more present for you here that I must insist you open."

"Insist? Very impressed with ourselves this year aren't we?" she joked.

"Well, I think this is rather good if I do say so myself."

Hermione began to unwrap the present as precisely and neatly as she did with all her presents. The look on her face though was more than worth the ordeal he went through to get it.

"Oh, Harry," she breathed. "My grandmother's engagement locket? How did you find it?"

"You don't want to know," he chuckled. "But if you open it there's a something a little newer."

Eagerly, Hermione tugged the locket open and saw the smiling faces of her husband and son. She looked up at him with a mixture of wonderment, tenderness and love that Harry's breath hitched.

"It's beautiful Harry, thank you," she leaned toward him, jostling the box between them and kissed him deeply. Harry maneuvered his wife back on the bed, deepening the kiss with every intention of showing her just how much he loved her when a loud _thunk_ sounded next to the bed.

Breaking out of their embrace, both eyes landed on the box that fell heavily on the bed.

"Harry, is this a two part gift?" she asked confused and somewhat surprised.

"No, why?" he countered with a frown.

Hermione froze and looked at him seriously.

"Where did you get that one?" she pointed to the other box.

"It was under the tree, isn't that from you?"

Hermione shook her head.

"Harry, that's not from me. Mine is in the drawer of my nightstand."

Harry's wand was in his hand in an instant. He levitated the box off the floor and left it suspended in midair as he slowly approached.

It was an ivory color and fairly small with decorative engravings on the outside of it. Though it wasn't large, it was solid. There didn't seem to be anything dangerous looking about it, which put Harry on guard. He muttered a different combination of spells under his breath as he scanned the box for any dark magic or spells.

Hermione was next to him observing and absorbing everything about the box. After not finding anything dark surrounding it, Harry reached out to touch it.

"Don't!" Hermione hissed grabbing his hand and pulling it away. "Are you really going to _touch_ a magical object you don't know anything about and don't know how it got into our house?"

Harry swallowed and shook his head.

"Not one of my smarter ideas, but I've already touched it and nothing happened," he pointed out.

Hermione glared at him for a second and crossed her arms. They both studied the box for a minute, looking for any sign as to what it could be or where it had come from.

"Any ideas?" Harry asked her not taking his eyes off the object.

"A couple, but the markings on the side are off. They're not runes that I've ever seen before, if in fact they are runes, but I don't believe that they're just there for decoration."

"No, if there's anything I'm sure about, it's that nothing on things like this is decoration."

Harry crossed his arms across his chest as well and let out a deep breath.

"I don't like this Harry," Hermione said after a moment of thinking. "I don't like that it's _here_, with all of our wards and everything, how did it get in here?"

The same thought was flying around his mind as well. The wards were keyed to only allow the Weasley's and Hermione's parents. They wouldn't have left a cryptic, mystical box under their tree at Christmas. Not at least without a note or some sort of warning as to what it was. Everyone else had to come to the front door. Nobody could break his wards, except Hermione, and the fact that someone had managed to get in and leave something in his house, where his family ate and slept had him on edge. Without another word, Harry came to a decision.

"Pack a bag, I'll get Teddy ready to go."

Hermione rushed to the closet and threw in clothes for both her and Harry. Harry threw a bubble charm around the box and hurried to Teddy's room, taking care to pack his favorite stuffed wolf. Satisfied that he had enough, Harry moved to Teddy's bed and as softly as possible lifted the sleeping four year old into his arms and settled him against his chest.

"Ready?" he asked his wife who was observing the box again.

"Yeah."

She stepped closer to him as Harry wrapped his arm around her. The uncomfortable squeezing of Apparition tugged at her stomach and she squeezed her eyes closed. She opened them to find herself standing in the dark and haunting hallway of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

Teddy was crying into Harry's neck while his godfather tried to soothe him back to sleep. He still wasn't used to Apparating and Harry and Hermione only used it with him in an emergency.

"You guys go get settled upstairs, I'm going to alert the Aurors about the box and have them take it to the ministry," Harry said as he handed Teddy to her and she quickly quieted him.

"Please be careful," she whispered as she cupped her husband's cheek. Harry leaned in and kissed her firmly, reassuringly.

"I'm just going to get it out of the house, and I'll be right back here with you, ok?"

Hermione stepped back and watched as Harry disappeared right before her. Teddy whimpered against her and she tightened her arms around him.

"It's ok Love, it's ok," she rubbed his back and walked up the stairs.

XXX

After a few minutes of rubbing his back and rocking him, Teddy had finally fallen back to sleep. Hermione made her way down to the Black family library and stalked the shelves searching for any book she could find on magical and mythical objects. Harry hadn't returned yet, and it was doubtful he would have any answers when he got back, but she was more unsettled now than she had been in the four years since Voldemort.

She silently berated herself for falling into the false sense of security she had accepted since then. How she had ever expected life to resemble anything normal seemed naïve, even foolish. For one, she was a _witch_, she snorted to herself. That should have been clue number one that life would never be _normal_.

Two, she was married to Harry Potter and had received notable acclaim herself for helping Harry against Voldemort and on her own as a Healer.

"Ow!" Hermione exclaimed as she pulled her hand back from a particularly nasty tome about the Black family history. Upon further examination, she rolled her eyes and resumed her search.

"Volume five! Just what we needed: a whole series dedicated to the deranged lives and tortures of the Black family," she grumbled under her breath as she shook at her bruised fingers.

She moved on down the book shelf and found a book that looked promising. The pile on the coffee table in front of the couch was teetering side to side by the time she decided she had enough material to start with.

Her mind had different plans for her research, however. There was something else that was bothering her about the break in that kept her from focusing on her reading. The wards at Lion's Wing, the small home she and Harry bought shortly after their marriage, were blood wards. A spell cast over a slight cut in her hand, as well as Harry and Ron's, had allowed the Weasley's and her parents to have access to the house whenever they wanted.

"I guess Petunia or Dudley could have dropped in," she mused to herself out loud. "But why would they have a magical box in their possession in the first place?"

"Teddy asleep?"

Hermione gasped and turned around, wand aimed at the intruder.

Harry's hands were in the air in a gesture of surrender and a sheepish smile on his face.

"Sorry, I thought you heard me open the door."

"No, obviously I didn't," she exhaled in relief and lowered her wand. "Did anyone know anything?"

"Uh-uh," he shook his head. "Nobody had ever seen anything like that before and all detections on the wards show no break in. Nothing was forced, it's like they just allowed this person in."

Harry slumped into a seat next to Hermione and scrubbed his hand over his face.

"I suppose this is one of the reasons you didn't want me to take that job," he finally said.

"Harry, please, that wasn't fair of me, I'm sorry," she reached out and grasped his hand. "I just..."

"I know Love, I shouldn't have just dropped it on you like that."

"Harry…I," Hermione stopped and pressed her lips together trying to choke back the tears.

"Hey, look at me," Harry whispered as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "It's ok, I know you are worried about the job. And quite frankly, I don't blame you. I have no doubt in you whatsoever, all right?"

As if to seal his words, he leaned down and kissed her softly. Hermione leaned into him allowing his words to reassure her. When he finally pulled away, he touched his forehead to hers and smiled.

"I want to talk more about this once we've got this current mess cleared up though," he sighed. "I know you're not going to let it go, but I need your brilliant mind to work on other matters for now."

She straightened her shoulders and faced him, waiting patiently for him to continue.

"Neville was the lead Auror on duty tonight and I had him take the box to the Ministry and put it in one of the secure vaults until I got there in the morning. I want to take it down to the Department of Magical and Mythical Objects and have Anthony Goldstein take a look at it. He's working as the research secretary for O.G.R.E. right now. He may not know much about it, but I figure it's a start. I also want you to come with me, seeing as you've got the brains in this outfit. You'll know all the questions to ask that won't cross my mind."

He smiled over at her ruefully. Even after nearly two years of marriage and eleven years of friendship, Hermione still blushed at the compliment.

"I think it's a good idea to talk to Anthony, he'll at least give us some idea where to look instead of going at this blind. I'll Floo Molly in the morning and see if she'd be willing to watch Teddy for a while. Hopefully, Bill and Fleur will be there still with Tori."

Hermione settled against Harry's side again. She lifted his arm around her, slipped her own under his shirt and wrapped them around his waist. As they sat in the silence, both of their minds wandered over the events of the last few hours.

"Harry?" Hermione started hesitantly after a moment.

"Hmm?"

"Have you thought about the wards?"  
"Yeah," he sighed.

"We're not over reacting are we? It could just as easily be something that Ginny picked up as a jewelry box and left for me."

"No, I don't think so. Something is off about this whole thing. There doesn't seem to be any dangerous about the box, but it makes me nervous. It doesn't add up. No, we're not over reacting; I think we're right to be suspicious of this."

"We should talk with the Weasleys, Mum and Dad, even Petunia and Dudley and see if they know anything about it. I'll send a message to everyone in the morning; you should call your Aunt."

"All right. Come on, it's half gone four. The witching hour has come and gone and all good little witches should be in bed by now," he smiled.

XXX

The beginnings of their search didn't pan out so well. All answers from their immediate family members confirmed that nobody they knew had left the box in their home. Harry was becoming more concerned with each negative response to their inquiries and, though she was more composed than her husband, Hermione was fairing little better. They met with the head of the Auror Department, Garman Drusus early that morning after dropping Teddy off at the Burrow. As expected, Neville's team had not made any progress on the intruder. Harry wanted to have another look at the house and both Drusus and Hermione thought it was necessary.

"Stuff it Potter," she said angrily at one point and crossed her arms as soon as he turned his attention to her. "You say one word about my staying behind or going to the Burrow and I can promise you that you will comprehend the full meaning of 'Brightest Witch of Her Age.'"

Reluctantly, Harry agreed to let Hermione return to Lion's Wing with him in order to examine the crime scene. They scoured the wards around all obvious entrances, searched around the tree for any trace of an outsider, even cast experimental detection and tracing spells Hermione had worked on in her final year of Hogwarts. But all their efforts produced the same result: nothing.

"There's got to be something we're missing!" Hermione exclaimed as their latest spell came up empty.

Harry was slumped in his seat on the couch, glasses dangling from one hand and the other rubbing his temple. Hermione resumed her stance in front of the, now wilting, Christmas tree and scanned the room with her eyes again.

"Maybe it's not something so complicated," she muttered to herself. "Maybe it was something simple."

"Like what? A Polyjuice Potion?" Harry scoffed.

"No you prat, like maybe they managed to follow us in one night. Maybe in an Animagus form, you know like a certain beetle we all know and hate."

"And they just what? Summoned the box to them once they were in and we left? Then left it in plain sight? Seems a bit farfetched, Love," Harry said lifting his head.

"I agree, but there's no other way for them to have gotten in and we didn't notice the box until Christmas night. There's no telling how long it's actually been here."

"No, I guess you're right. It seems like we should have found something by now, anything that could lead us to a clue."

"Well, hopefully Anthony will be able to help us out a bit. At least see if he can identify the box and what it's used for, if not where it originated."

"Speaking of which, we are supposed to meet him in his office in a half hour. Let's stop by the Burrow and check on Teddy, then head to the Ministry."

Hermione readily agreed and grabbed her cloak that she had shed and left draped over the couch. Harry followed her to the door, pulling his cloak on as well. He was lost in his thoughts for a moment, but was quickly pulled out of them as he heard Hermione's gasp.

His head snapped up and his wand flashed out of his pocket as he reached around and pulled his wife back to him. But the sight of the person in doorway froze him. He blinked once, then twice and shook his head trying to tell himself he was seeing things.

Standing at five feet, seven inches, with curly brown hair that reached just past her shoulders, the same almond shaped, brown eyes and the same nervous smile he hadn't seen from his wife since they graduated Hogwarts, was Hermione Granger's carbon copy.

"I think we might have found our first clue," Hermione gulped.


End file.
